Lions Gate via Everett Collection
When we last left our heroes, they had conquered all opponents in the 74th Annual Hunger Games, returned home to their newly refurbished living quarters in District 12, and fallen haplessly to the cannibalism of PTSD. And now we're back! Hitching our wagons once again to laconic Katniss Everdeen and her sweet-natured, just-for-the-camera boyfriend Peeta Mellark as they gear up for a second go at the Capitol's killing fields.
But hold your horses — there's a good hour and a half before we step back into the arena. However, the time spent with Katniss and Peeta before the announcement that they'll be competing again for the ceremonial Quarter Quell does not drag. In fact, it's got some of the film franchise's most interesting commentary about celebrity, reality television, and the media so far, well outweighing the merit of The Hunger Games' satire on the subject matter by having Katniss struggle with her responsibilities as Panem's idol. Does she abide by the command of status quo, delighting in the public's applause for her and keeping them complacently saturated with her smiles and curtsies? Or does Katniss hold three fingers high in opposition to the machine into which she has been thrown? It's a quarrel that the real Jennifer Lawrence would handle with a castigation of the media and a joke about sandwiches, or something... but her stakes are, admittedly, much lower. Harvey Weinstein isn't threatening to kill her secret boyfriend.
Through this chapter, Katniss also grapples with a more personal warfare: her devotion to Gale (despite her inability to commit to the idea of love) and her family, her complicated, moralistic affection for Peeta, her remorse over losing Rue, and her agonizing desire to flee the eye of the public and the Capitol. Oftentimes, Katniss' depression and guilty conscience transcends the bounds of sappy. Her soap opera scenes with a soot-covered Gale really push the limits, saved if only by the undeniable grace and charisma of star Lawrence at every step along the way of this film. So it's sappy, but never too sappy.
In fact, Catching Fire is a masterpiece of pushing limits as far as they'll extend before the point of diminishing returns. Director Francis Lawrence maintains an ambiance that lends to emotional investment but never imposes too much realism as to drip into territories of grit. All of Catching Fire lives in a dreamlike state, a stark contrast to Hunger Games' guttural, grimacing quality that robbed it of the life force Suzanne Collins pumped into her first novel.
Once we get to the thunderdome, our engines are effectively revved for the "fun part." Katniss, Peeta, and their array of allies and enemies traverse a nightmare course that seems perfectly suited for a videogame spin-off. At this point, we've spent just enough time with the secondary characters to grow a bit fond of them — deliberately obnoxious Finnick, jarringly provocative Johanna, offbeat geeks Beedee and Wiress — but not quite enough to dissolve the mystery surrounding any of them or their true intentions (which become more and more enigmatic as the film progresses). We only need adhere to Katniss and Peeta once tossed in the pit of doom that is the 75th Hunger Games arena, but finding real characters in the other tributes makes for a far more fun round of extreme manhunt.
But Catching Fire doesn't vie for anything particularly grand. It entertains and engages, having fun with and anchoring weight to its characters and circumstances, but stays within the expected confines of what a Hunger Games movie can be. It's a good one, but without shooting for succinctly interesting or surprising work with Katniss and her relationships or taking a stab at anything but the obvious in terms of sending up the militant tyrannical autocracy, it never even closes in on the possibility of being a great one.
3.5/5
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In This Means War – a stylish action/rom-com hybrid from director McG – Tom Hardy (The Dark Knight Rises) and Chris Pine (Star Trek) star as CIA operatives whose close friendship is strained by the fires of romantic rivalry. Best pals FDR (Pine) and Tuck (Hardy) are equally accomplished at the spy game but their fortunes diverge dramatically in the dating realm: FDR (so nicknamed for his obvious resemblance to our 32nd president) is a smooth-talking player with an endless string of conquests while Tuck is a straight-laced introvert whose love life has stalled since his divorce. Enter Lauren (Reese Witherspoon) a pretty plucky consumer-products evaluator who piques both their interests in separate unrelated encounters. Tuck meets her via an online-dating site FDR at a video-rental store. (That Lauren is tech-savvy enough to date online but still rents movies in video stores is either a testament to her fascinating mix of contradictions or more likely an example of lazy screenwriting.)
When Tuck and FDR realize they’re pursuing the same girl it sparks their respective competitive natures and they decide to make a friendly game of it. But what begins as a good-natured rivalry swiftly devolves into romantic bloodsport with both men using the vast array of espionage tools at their disposal – from digital surveillance to poison darts – to gain an edge in the battle for Lauren’s affections. If her constitutional rights happen to be violated repeatedly in the process then so be it.
Lauren for her part remains oblivious to the clandestine machinations of her dueling suitors and happily basks in the sudden attention from two gorgeous men. Herein we find the Reese Witherspoon Dilemma: While certainly desirable Lauren is far from the irresistible Helen of Troy type that would inspire the likes of Tuck and FDR to risk their friendship their careers and potential incarceration for. At several points in This Means War I found myself wondering if there were no other peppy blondes in Los Angeles (where the film is primarily set) for these men to pursue. Then again this is a film that wishes us to believe that Tom Hardy would have trouble finding a date so perhaps plausibility is not its strong point.
When Lauren needs advice she looks to her boozy foul-mouthed best friend Trish (Chelsea Handler). Essentially an extension of Handler’s talk-show persona – an acquired taste if there ever was one – Trish’s dialogue consists almost exclusively of filthy one-liners delivered in rapid-fire succession. Handler does have some choice lines – indeed they’re practically the centerpiece of This Means War’s ad campaign – but the film derives the bulk of its humor from the outrageous lengths Tuck and FDR go to sabotage each others’ efforts a raucous game of spy-versus-spy that carries the film long after Handler’s shtick has grown stale.
Business occasionally intrudes upon matters in the guise of Heinrich (Til Schweiger) a Teutonic arms dealer bent on revenge for the death of his brother. The subplot is largely an afterthought existing primarily as a means to provide third-act fireworks – and to allow McGenius an outlet for his ADD-inspired aesthetic proclivities. The film’s action scenes are edited in such a manic quick-cut fashion that they become almost laughably incoherent. In fairness to McG he does stage a rather marvelous sequence in the middle of the film in which Tuck and FDR surreptitiously skulk about Lauren's apartment unaware of each other's presence carefully avoiding detection by Lauren who grooves absentmindedly to Montel Jordan's "This Is How We Do It." The whole scene unfolds in one continuous take – or is at least craftily constructed to appear as such – captured by one very agile steadicam operator.
Whatever his flaws as a director McG is at least smart enough to know how much a witty script and appealing leads can compensate for a film’s structural and logical deficiencies. He proved as much with Charlie’s Angels a film that enjoys a permanent spot on many a critic’s Guilty Pleasures list and does so again with This Means War. The film coasts on the chemistry of its three co-stars and only runs into trouble when the time comes to resolve its romantic competition which by the end has driven its male protagonists to engage in all manner of underhanded and duplicitous activities. This Means War being a commercial film – and likely an expensive one at that – Witherspoon's heroine is mandated to make a choice and McG all but sidesteps the whole thorny matter of Tuck and FDR’s unwavering dishonesty not to mention their craven disregard for her privacy. (They regularly eavesdrop on her activities.) For all their obvious charms the truth is that neither deserves Lauren – or anything other than a lengthy jail sentence for that matter.
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Last year director Garry Marshall hit upon a devilishly canny approach to the romantic comedy. A more polished refinement of Hal Needham’s experimental Cannonball Run method it called for assembling a gaggle of famous faces from across the demographic spectrum and pairing them with a shallow day-in-the-life narrative packed with gobs of gooey sentiment. A cynical strategy to be sure but one that paid handsome dividends: Valentine’s Day earned over $56 million in its opening weekend surpassing even the rosiest of forecasts. Buoyed by the success Marshall and his screenwriter Katherine Fugate hastily retreated to the bowels of Hades to apply their lucrative formula to another holiday historically steeped in romantic significance and New Year’s Eve was born.
Set in Manhattan on the last day of the year New Year’s Eve crams together a dozen or so canned scenarios into one bloated barely coherent mass of cliches. As before Marshall’s recruited an impressive ensemble of minions to do his unholy bidding including Oscar winners Hilary Swank Halle Berry and Robert De Niro the latter luxuriating in a role that didn’t require him to get out of bed. High School Musical’s Zac Efron is paired up with ‘80s icon Michelle Pfeiffer – giving teenage girls and their fathers something to bond over – while Glee’s Lea Michele meets cute with a pajama-clad Ashton Kutcher. There’s Katherine Heigl in a familiar jilted-fiance role Sarah Jessica Parker as a fretful single mom and Chris “Ludacris” Bridges as the most laid-back cop in New York. Sofia Vergara and Hector Elizondo mine for cheap laughs with thick accents – his fake and hers real – and Jessica Biel and Josh Duhamel deftly mix beauty with blandness. Fans of awful music will delight in the sounds of Jon Bon Jovi straining against type to play a relevant pop musician.
The task of interweaving the various storylines is too great for Marshall and New Year’s Eve bears the distinct scent and stain of an editing-room bloodbath with plot holes so gaping that not even the brightest of celebrity smiles can obscure them. But that’s not the point – it never was. You should know better than to expect logic from a film that portrays 24-year-old Efron and 46-year-old Parker as brother-and-sister without bothering to explain how such an apparent scientific miracle might have come to pass. Marshall wagers that by the time the ball drops and the film’s last melodramatic sequence has ended prior transgressions will be absolved and moviegoers will be content to bask in New Year's Eve's artificial glow. The gambit worked for Valentine's Day; this time he may not be so fortunate.

Enigmatic and deliberate Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy makes no reservations while unraveling its heady spy story for better or worse. The film based on the bestselling novel by John Le Carre is purposefully perplexing effectively mirroring the central character George Smiley's (Gary Oldman) own mind-bending investigation of the British MI6's mole problem. But the slow burn pacing clinical shooting style and air of intrigue only go so far—Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy sports an incredible cast that can't dramatically translate the movie's impenetrable narrative. Almost from the get go the movie collapses under its own weight.
After a botched mission in Hungary that saw his colleague Jim (Mark Strong) gunned down in the streets Smiley and his boss Control (John Hurt) are released from the "Circus" (codename for England's Secret Intelligence Service). But soon after Smiley is brought back on board as an impartial observer tasked to uncover the possible infiltration of the organization. The former agent already dealing with the crippling of his own marriage attempts to sift through the history and current goings on of the Circus narrowing his hunt down to four colleagues: Percy aka "Tinker" (Toby Jones) Bill aka "Tailor" (Colin Firth) Roy aka "Soldier" (Ciaran Hinds) and Toy aka "Poor Man" (David Dencik). Working with Peter (Benedict Cumberbatch) a conflicted younger member of the service and Ricki (Tom Hardy) a rogue agent who has information of his own Smiley slowly uncovers the muddled truth—occasionally breaking in to his own work place and crossing his own friends to do so.
Describing Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy as dense doesn't seem complicated enough. The first hour of the monster mystery moves at a sloth's pace trickling out information like the tedious drips of a leaky faucet. The talent on display is undeniable but the characters Smiley included are so cold that a connection can never be made. TTSS sporadically jumps around from past to present timelines without any indication: a tactic that proves especially confusing when scenes play out in reoccurring locations. It's not until halfway through that the movie decides to kick into high gear Smiley's search for a culprit finally becoming clear enough to thrill. A film that takes its time is one thing but Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy does so without any edge or hook.
What the movie lacks in coherency it makes up for in style and thespian gravitas. Director Tomas Alfredson has assembled some of the finest British performers working today and they turn the script's inaccessible spy jargon into poetry. Firth stands out as the group's suave slimeball a departure from his usual nice guy roles. Hardy assures us he's the next big thing once again as the agency's resident moppet a lover who breaks down after a romantic fling uncovers horrifying truth. Oldman is given the most difficult task of the bunch turning the reserved contemplative Smiley into a real human. He half succeeds—his observational slant in the beginning feels like an extension of the movie's bigger problems but once gets going in the second half of the film he's quite a bit of fun.
Alfredson constructs Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy like a cinematic architect each frame dripping with perfectly kitschy '70s production design and camera angles that make the spine tingle. He creates paranoia through framing similar to the Coppola's terrifying The Conversation but unlike that film TTSS doesn't have the characters or story to match. The movie strives to withhold information and succeeds—too much so. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy wants us to solve a mystery with George Smiley but it never clues us in to exactly why we should want to.

Director Alexander Payne's (Election Sideways) new film opens over sprawling landscape shots of Hawaii's scenic suburbia accompanied by George Clooney's character Matt King summing up his current predicament: "Paradise can go fuck itself." The reaction unfortunately is reasonable.
We pick up with King an ancestor of Hawaiian royalty in the middle of deliberations over a plot of land handed down through his family over generations. With every uncle aunt and cosign whispering opinions into his ear King is suddenly presented with an even greater problem: taking care of his two daughters. A boating accident leaves his wife in a coma forcing Matt to take a true parenting role with his young socially-troubled daughter Scottie (Amara Miller) and his rebellious teen Alexandra (Shailene Woodley) who was previously shipped off to boarding school. Matt awkwardly hunts for the emotional glue necessary for the mismatched bunch to become "a family " but matters are made even more complicated when Alex reveals that her mother was cheating on him before the accident. Murphy's Law is in full effect.
With The Descendants Payne continues to explore and discover the inherent humor in life's melancholic situations unfolding Matt's quest for understanding like a road movie across Hawaii's many islands. Simultaneously preparing for the end of his wife's death and searching for the identity of her lover Matt crosses paths with a number of perfectly cast side characters who act as mirrors to his best and worst qualities: his father-in-law Scott (Robert Foster) who belittles Matt for never taking care of his daughter; Hugh (Beau Bridges) an opportunistic cousin who pressures Matt to sell the land; Alexandra's dunce of a boyfriend Sid (Nick Krause) who always has the wrong thing to say; and Julie (Judy Greer) the wife of the adulterer in question. Colorful yet real Matt experiences a definitive moment with each of them yet the picture never feels sporadic or episodic.
Clooney and Woodley help gel these sequences together as they observe experience and butt heads as equals. Clooney's own magnetism stands in the way of making Matt a fully dimensional character but he shines when playing off his quick-witted daughter. His reactions are heartbreaking—but it's the moments when he has to put himself out there that never quite ring true. But the script by Nat Faxon Jim Rash and Payne gives Clooney plenty of opportunities to work his magic visualizing his struggle as opposed to vomiting it out like so many of today's talky dramas.
The Descendants is a tender cinematic experience an introspective and heartwarming film unafraid to convey its story with pleasing simplicity. Clooney stands out with a solid performance but like many of Payne's films it's the eclectic ensemble and muted backdrop that give the movie its real texture. The paradise of Descendants isn't all its cracked up to be but for movie-goers it's bliss.

It’s been a long time since we’ve seen a decent ninja flick. When the Golden Age of Ninja Cinema (also known as the Dudikoff Era) ebbed at the close of the ‘80s the black-clad martial artists retreated to the shadows. This week director James McTeigue (V for Vendetta) aims to resurrect them with Ninja Assassin a hyperkinetic gorefest starring Korean pop star Rain.
But these ain’t your daddy’s ninjas. Though they boast the familiar wardrobe (black on black) and weapons (swords throwing stars etc.) the ninjas in this flick are thoroughly nasty buggers. Members of a super-secret international syndicate of assassins-for-hire they can dodge bullets turn invisible heal wounds and communicate telepathically. And for the low low price of 100 lbs of gold they’ll kill anyone you want no questions asked.
It’s that latter aspect that draws the scrutiny of law enforcement — specifically agents Mika Coretti (Naomi Harris) and Ryan Maslow (Ben Miles) of Europol (which appears to be a division of Interpol staffed exclusively with imbeciles). Fortunately for these hapless twits they find a potent ally in Raizo (Rain) a renegade ninja of unsurpassed ability who nurses a nasty grudge against his cruel former master Lord Ozunu (Sho Kosugi).
Fueled by childhood memories of the abuse he suffered while at Lord Ozunu’s ninja sleepaway camp Raizo will stop at nothing to bring the entire operation down. Which is good because his former chums are a persistent lot arriving in ever greater numbers to snuff out the powerful apostate.
McTeigue’s dizzying shaky-cam combined with the identical appearance of most of the ninja combatants makes the action difficult to follow at times in Ninja Assassin. It’s probably why he felt compelled to accentuate every fight scene with exaggerated bursts of CGI blood. Still as disembodied heads limbs and torsos fly across the screen in quantities not seen since Kill Bill it’s nigh impossible to determine who they belong(ed) to. Much easier to pinpoint are the glistening six-pack abs of Raizo a fighter so badass he can ward off his pursuers while wearing little more than a thin layer of baby oil.
It’s a pity Raizo couldn’t have applied his blade to the Ninja Assassin script which encumbers the first half of the movie with endless flashbacks gratuitous training sequences and pointless political squabbling. Or perhaps he could have imparted some of his skills at deception to McTeigue who exhibits all of the subtlety and unpredictability of a kamikaze pilot.
This is one ninja flick that should have remained in the shadows.

Red Dragon captured first place with a fiery $37.5 million, the biggest opening ever in the month of October.
Sweet Home Alabama was a charming second with $21.6 million.
The Tuxedo was a well pressed third with $10.1 million.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding was fourth with $8.5 million, down only 10 percent. With a cume of $148 million now, it's heading for an astounding $175 million.
Barbershop was still something to talk about in fifth place with $6.8 million.
Driven by Dragon, key films were up 23.5 percent over last year -- $107.3 million versus $86.8 million. It was the first time an October weekend has grossed over $100 million.
THE TOP TEN
Universal and Dino De Laurentiis's R rated thriller Red Dragon, presented in association with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, opened in first place to a record setting ESTIMATED $37.48 million at 3,357 theaters ($11,165 per theater).
Dragon's average per theater was the highest for any film playing in wide release this weekend.
Directed by Brett Ratner, it stars Anthony Hopkins, Edward Norton, Ralph Fiennes, Harvey Keitel, Emily Watson, Mary-Louise Parker and Philip Seymour Hoffman.
"This is the biggest October opening ever. Until now the record was (Universal's) Meet the Parents at $28.6 million (the weekend of Oct. 6-8, 2000)," Universal distribution president Nikki Rocco said Sunday morning.
"It's the biggest R rated fall opening ever. Before this, it was (Warner Bros.') Interview With the Vampire (the weekend of Nov. 11-13, 1994 with) $36.4 million. To have a $37.5 million opening at this time of year is very extraordinary. For the business, itself, to break over $100 million at the box office this weekend is extraordinary. And you have to credit this film for that. It's never been done. There's never been a $100 million weekend in October."
Looking at the film's opening, Rocco noted, "Our expectations were fulfilled. We are very excited about the opening. I think the word of mouth is extraordinary. The CinemaScores were very, very strong. The exit polls are very strong. I think word of mouth is going to be exceptional on the film and I think the picture's going to have legs. When $37 million worth of audience starts to talk about how great this movie is, there's no doubt that it will be the choice for the fall."
Rocco applauded Ratner "for creating this masterpiece. And I think that Dino and Martha DeLaurentiis have to be acknowledged for having the ability to continue the Hannibal Lecter story -- developing it and producing a film that moviegoers want to see about Hannibal Lecter. It goes without saying that Anthony Hopkins is such an extraordinary talent and I give him (great) credit for this classic and chilling character that he (brought to life) that's captured the moviegoing audience's attention for more than a decade."
Who was on hand opening weekend? "Believe it or not, on Saturday night it was evenly divided (in terms of) the age of 30 -- 51 percent under 30 and 49 percent over 30. It was exactly 50-50 on males-females."
Dragon should benefit in terms of word of mouth from the fact that while it is scary, it's not gruesome or gory. Hannibal was difficult for some moviegoers to look at, but Dragon is a more accessible movie, especially to adults and to women in general. Hannibal kicked off via MGM to $58 million the weekend of Feb. 9-11, 2001 and went on to gross approximately $165 million in domestic theaters.
Asked about those who were speculating that Dragon would open in line with Hannibal, Rocco emphasized that Dragon is "not a sequel. It's not a sequel to Hannibal. It's not a sequel to Silence of the Lambs. So, therefore, the expectations shouldn't have been that it would play like a sequel."
Buena Vista/Touchstone's PG-13 rated romantic comedy Sweet Home Alabama fell one peg to second place in its second week, showing good legs with an ESTIMATED $21.6 million (-39%) at 3,303 theaters (+10 theaters; $6,541 per theater). Its cume is approximately $65.6 million.
Directed by Andy Tennant, it stars Reese Witherspoon and Josh Lucas.
DreamWorks' PG-13 action comedy The Tuxedo slipped one rung to third place in its second week, holding nicely with an ESTIMATED $10.1 million (-33%) at 3,022 theaters (theater count unchanged; $3,341 per theater). Its cume is approximately $28.1 million.
Directed by Kevin Donovan, it stars Jackie Chan and Jennifer Love Hewitt.
Films' release of Gold Circle Films and HBO's PG rated romantic comedy blockbuster My Big Fat Greek Wedding held on to fourth place in its 25th week, continuing to show amazingly strong legs with an ESTIMATED $8.48 million (-10%) at 1,971 theaters (+130 theaters; $4,304 per theater). Its cume is approximately $148.0 million, heading for $175 million in domestic theaters.
Wedding has now passed the $140.5 million record set by Artisan Entertainment's The Blair Witch Project and ranks as the top grossing independent film ever at the domestic office.
Directed by Joel Zwick, it stars Nia Vardalos and John Corbett.
"Down 10 percent in week 25!" IFC distribution president Rob Schwartz said Sunday morning. "I'm thinking at least $175 million at this point. We'll have to revisit it after next week. Next week (with so many new films coming into the marketplace) makes me a little nervous, but if this film holds true to form, everyone who opens next week is going to do what they do and maybe take a little steam off of us, but then they'll start dropping off or falling behind us pretty quickly. So I wouldn't put $175 million out of reach at all. I think that's a realistic number."
Asked about the buzz in Hollywood that Greek Wedding looks like a contender for Golden Globe and Oscar attention in various key categories, Schwartz agreed, "I think there are a lot of possibilities out there. It's definitely something that's being strategically hashed out right now."
Assessing the film's success, Schwartz noted, "I think it's really the universality of the picture and that it speaks to everyone. Everyone loves it. It could be My Big Fat Italian Wedding, My Big Fat Irish Wedding, My Big Fat Jewish Wedding. It speaks to everyone the same way. It's just universal the way it touches people. The timing was just right for this kind of film.
"Everything was about Star Wars and Spider-Man this summer and the big blockbusters, as per usual. This was the only thing for a while in its demographic. It was just a nice mainstream type of film that people hadn't been seeing in a while. Studios and independents alike have been taking care to provide something edgy or different and it looks like the audience just wanted to see something normal, something that they could relate to."
MGM's PG-13 rated urban appeal comedy Barbershop dropped two notches to fifth place in its fourth week, still looking good with an ESTIMATED $6.8 million (-32%) at 2,176 theaters (+125 theaters; $3,125 per theater). Its cume is approximately $60.2 million, heading for $75-80 million in domestic theaters.
Directed by Tim Story, it stars Ice Cube, Anthony Anderson, Sean Patrick Thomas, Eve and Cedric The Entertainer.
The G rated animated feature Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie from Artisan's FHE Pictures and Big Idea Productions opened in sixth place to a very ripe ESTIMATED $6.5 million at 940 theaters ($6,915 per theater).
Directed by Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki, it was produced by Ameake Owens.
"We're remarkably happy with these results," Artisan distribution head Steve Rothenberg said Sunday morning.
Jonah's strong showing in sixth place, he said, "is remarkable given that most of the films we're around have two, three or four times the number of screens we've got. So clearly we performed at a number that we're very happy with."
Asked about the film's release at only 940 theaters, Rothenberg explained, "We tried to be very strategic with our plan. The reason we went with 940 is that when we analyzed the (big selling) videos that the series is based on -- they've been around for about 10 years -- they didn't have very good penetration in the northeast. So we decided we would put all our concentration of marketing dollars and promotional effort with church groups and other organizations in the south, the mid-west and the west, where the strength had been.
"So we didn't open the New York branch, the Boston branch, the Philly branch, the D.C. branch. Now that the success is obviously there, we're going to expand on Oct. 18. We're going to take a break this weekend -- as you know, it's suicidal. There are six movies that I show that are going (to open) with at least 1,000 or more screens. It's going to be crazy out there. On the 18th, we're going to come into the northeast and give it a shot there."
Focusing on Jonah, he said, "These are animated vegetables. A series of recurring characters over the last decade that (were created by) Big Ideas. Essentially what they do is tell Bible stories, but they do them with a Monty Pythonesque sense of humor. It's really a very brilliant marketing ploy because they can now get families to sit and watch them. Kids like them because they're singing and dancing vegetables that tell simple Bible stories, but the adults can be entertained because the humor is very Pythonesque and will make you laugh out loud as an adult. It's their first foray into features and clearly their fan base came out in droves.
"The exit polls were very encouraging. They basically confirmed what our research screenings in the past had showed, which is that the fans loved the movie. The people who see this film are loving it because it's an expanded version of what they've seen in the videos with beautiful CGI animation. The numbers were absolutely wonderful so we know that the people who saw it will like it and now we're just hoping they'll spread the word to the people who are 'non-converted,' who don't know about the series but certainly are in search of good family entertainment."
Artisan's timing was good, as well, he added: "We specifically planned not to go in the summer. We knew the summer was crazy with kids' films once a week. We didn't want to go in September for two reasons. Number one, we wanted some distance between the summer films. And, secondly, back-to-school time is probably the worst time to come out with family stuff.
"We figured Oct. 4 would be a great time to go. It would get us out of that September period and give us a six or seven week cushion from the last youth oriented film, which was Spy Kids 2. (We felt) the timing was right, the marketplace was ready and, clearly, at least initially the numbers back that up."
Fox Searchlight Pictures' R rated low budget comedy The Banger Sisters fell two rungs to seventh place in its third week with a dull ESTIMATED $3.57 million (-34%) at 2,530 theaters (-208 theaters; $1,411 per theater). Its cume is approximately $24.4 million.
Written and directed by Bob Dolman, it stars Goldie Hawn, Susan Sarandon and Geoffrey Rush.
Paramount and Miramax's PG-13 rated very expensive romantic epic The Four Feathers slipped two rungs in its third week to eighth place with a very disappointing ESTIMATED $2.1 million (-41%) at 2,187 theaters (theater count unchanged; $953 per theater). Its cume is approximately $15.6 million.
Directed by Shekhar Kapur, it stars Heath Ledger, Wes Bentley and Kate Hudson.
Buena Vista/Touchstone's PG-13 rated drama Moonlight Mile went wider in its second week, placing ninth with an encouraging ESTIMATED $2.0 million at 434 theaters (+412 theaters; $4,614 per theater). Its cume is approximately $2.4 million.
Written and directed by Brad Silberling, it stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman, Susan Sarandon and Holly Hunter.
Rounding out the Top 10 was Fox Searchlight Pictures' R rated low budget thriller One Hour Photo, down three slots in its seventh week with a calm ESTIMATED $1.72 million (-43%) at 1,261 theaters (-46 theaters; $1,364 per theater). Its cume is approximately $28.8 million.
Written and directed by Mark Romanek, it stars Robin Williams.
OTHER OPENINGS
This weekend also saw the arrival of Warner Bros.' R rated crime comedy Welcome to Collinwood to a hopeful ESTIMATED $82,000 at 16 theaters ($5,125 per theater).
Written and directed by Anthony &amp; Joe Russo, it stars William H. Macy, Isaiah Washington and Sam Rockwell.
"This movie was produced by George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh and their company Section Eight," Warner Bros. Distribution executive vice president Jeff Goldstein said Sunday morning.
"They've made money available to young upcoming writers and directors. The writer and director (of Collinwood) are two brothers, Joe and Anthony Russo, and this is their debut. They're solid numbers -- nice and strong. We're in five different markets and it's a nice specialized film for a specialized market. We feel good about the numbers."
Will Warners go wider with the film? "We had originally set it for (expansion on) Oct. 18," Goldstein replied. "So between Oct. 18 and 25, we're going to roll out other markets."
Miramax's R rated thriller Heaven opened to an encouraging ESTIMATED $54,000 at 4 theaters ($13,500 per theater).
Directed by Tom Tykwer, it stars Cate Blanchett and Giovanni Ribisi.
SNEAK PREVIEWS
There were no national sneak previews this weekend.
EXPANSIONS
On the expansion front this weekend Buena Vista/ Disney's PG rated animated feature Spirited Away went wider in its third week with an encouraging ESTIMATED $0.63 million at 97 theaters (+44 theaters; $6,492 per theater). Its cume is approximately $1.9 million.
Directed by Hayao Miyazaki, it was the Golden Bear best picture winner at the Berlin International Film Festival. Spirited is the all-time top grossing film at the Japanese box office.
United Artists' R rated dark comedy Igby Goes Down expanded quietly in its fourth week with an ESTIMATED $0.51 million (-17%) at 147 theaters (+26 theaters; $3,443 per theater). Its cume is approximately $2.7 million.
Written and directed by Burr Steers, it stars Kieran Culkin, Claire Danes, Jeff Goldblum, Jared Harris, Amanda Peet, Ryan Phillippe, Bill Pullman and Susan Sarandon.
Lions Gate Films' R rated kinky romance Secretary expanded in its third week with an attractive ESTIMATED $0.38 million (+4%) at 101 theaters (+48 theaters; $3,730 per theater). Its cume is approximately $1.2 million.
Directed by Steven Shainberg, it stars James Spader and Maggie Gyllenhaal.
Focus Features' R rated French comedic whodunit 8 Women expanded in its third week with a still charming ESTIMATED $0.36 million (+17%) at 82 theaters (+25 theaters; $4,380 per theater). Its cume is approximately $1.2 million.
Directed by Francois Ozon, it stars Catherine Deneuve, Isabelle Huppert, Emmanuelle Beart, Fanny Ardant, Virginie Ledoyen, Danielle Darrieux, Ludivine Sagnier and Firmine Richard.
WEEKEND COMPARISONS
Key films -- those grossing more than $500,000 -- took in approximately $107.25 million for the weekend, up about 23.53 percent from last year when they totaled $86.82 million.
Key films were up about 11.91 percent from the previous weekend this year when they totaled $95.84 million.
Last year, Warner Bros.' opening week of Training Day was first with $22.55 million at 2,712 theaters ($8,315 per theater); and Miramax's opening week of Serendipity was second with $13.31 million at 2,601 theaters ($5,117 per theater). The top two films one year ago grossed $35.9 million. This year, the top two films grossed an ESTIMATED $59.1 million.